A lot of people once questioned if the Orange were merely the No. 1 team by default -- convenient winners when the other teams around them lost.

Just how little some folks think of the 21-1 team showed up in this week’s polls. After dropping its first game of the season -- on the road and without starting big man Fab Melo, who is being withheld reportedly due to academic issues -- Syracuse tumbled from No. 1 to No. 4 in the coaches poll.

So here’s the thing about the Orange. They might not always be pretty. Forced into a half-court offense, they can be downright tedious if not altogether lost at times. ... The Cuse, however, is nothing if not resilient, tough and deep -- three traits that ought to carry it a long way.

Kris Joseph can be that (go-to) guy. Perhaps to underscore that point, we’re going to point out how marvelous Joseph was against the Bearcats. He shot 8-of-11 from the field, scored 17 points and, given how obviously he mismatched the Cincy defense, might have scored 30 if he’d gotten more opportunities.

Joseph drove the ball at will on the Bearcats, consistently getting the ball to the rim and finishing plays. His most impressive basket came with 13:22 left and the game tied at 38, when Cincy wound up double-teaming him late in the shot-clock with Sean Kilpatrick and Yancy Gates. Joseph managed to shoot a floater over both and drain it.

If SU is Final Four-bound, Joseph needs to be in the front of the plane.

And so it goes in the Big East. The Orange don't know for certain when Melo will return. Until he does, teams are likely to take liberties close to the basket, the way Cincinnati's Gates did in the second half Monday. For Syracuse, Fab-less isn't fabulous. But as Monday showed, it doesn't have to be disastrous, either. There is nothing in college basketball better than experienced guards, and Syracuse has that fact covered.

When the Cincinnati game started in much the same manner (as the Orange's Saturday loss to Notre Dame), with the Bearcats sinking impossible three-pointers and taking hold of the momentum from the get-go, it would have been easy for this team to resign itself to yet another road loss. Head home, lick their wounds and try to pick up the pieces.

It makes their 60-53 win all the more impressive. And sweeter.

That the Orange won the game without Fab Melo, with Dion Waiters on the bench for most of the night and relying on Rakeem Christmas to control the paint on defense...well, that's something special.

A game after Notre Dame's Jack Cooley bludgeoned the interior players for the Orange, (SU's Rakeem) Christmas responded. In what assistant coach Gerry McNamara called the best game of the freshman's young career, he posted four points, nine rebounds and three blocks in 27 huge minutes for SU (21-1, 8-1 Big East). His ability to battle against Gates and the UC forward's 38-pound weight advantage proved crucial for Syracuse in a 60-53 win over the Bearcats (15-6, 5-3 Big East).

... "He was physical, he was tough, blocking shots," McNamara said. "Yancy is a big, strong, physical player and very talented. … It was a big step for him. He was more physical tonight, and that's how we're going to need him to play."